January 13th: Cucumber, Dill & Havarti Grilled Cheese and Laura Calder's Apple Chicken

Two yummies for today. First, for lunch: a slightly fancied up grilled cheese from Cooking with my Kid: Cucumber, Dill & Havarti Grilled Cheese. This came together quickly, which was great, as I was just coming in the door and starving, and Greg and Olivia were about to head out, and starving. It hit the spot, for all of us.

For supper, I made Laura Calder's Apple Chicken, which I pulled out of the Ottawa Citizen. Back in my maternity leave days, I watched a lot of Food Network, and French Food at Home was one I enjoyed. I was pleased with this recipe; it seemed on the plain side for the first few bites, but by the end I was licking up the sauce. I altered the sauce to make it non-alcoholic, for the toddler and the preggers mama. I replaced the apple brandy and hard cider with equal parts apple cider and chicken broth. Quite tasty, as noted. Olivia and I also enjoyed munching on the apples, both cooked and raw (I couldn't fit all the slices in the pan, so we ate some as supper was cooking).

Apple chicken from Laura Calder's Dinner Chez Moi

Laura Calder says this beautiful Norman dish is incredibly simple to make, but luxurious-tasting and elegant, the kind of thing that reminds you why French food really never goes out of style.

Makes: 4 servings.

For the chicken:

4 slices bacon, cut into lardons (widthwise strips)

1 tablespoon butter

4 small bone-in chicken breasts, with skin

salt and pepper

1/4 cup Calvados or other apple brandy*

1 cup hard cider*

1/2 cup creme fraiche**

a small handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

For the apples:

2 Granny Smith apples

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon sugar

Fry the bacon in a saute pan until cooked but not crisp; remove and set aside. Add the butter for the chicken to the pan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown the skin side, about 4 minutes. Turn the chicken. Pour off all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of fat. Deglaze the pan with the Calvados and boil to reduce. Put the bacon back in, pour over the cider, cover the pan, and cook over medium-low heat until the chicken is done, about 20 minutes, uncovering the pan for the last 5 minutes to reduce the liquid to about 1/2 cup. If longer time is required to reduce the liquid, remove the chicken and bacon.

While the chicken cooks, prepare the apples. Peel, core, and slice them into 1/4-inch rings. Melt the butter for the apples in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the apples on both sides until golden and tender, a matter of minutes. Sprinkle with the sugar and continue cooking, turning the apples once, for a minute or two until the sugar has melted and slightly caramelized.

Stir the creme fraiche into the chicken sauce and heat through. Place the chicken breasts in a warm serving dish. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Pour it over the chicken and arrange the apple pieces on top. Sprinkle with the parsley, and serve.

*I used 1/2 cup + 2 tbsps each apple cider and chicken broth
**The recipes suggests if you can't find creme fraiche, use half cream and half sour cream. That's what I did!

I made the full recipe for 2 chicken breasts.

Served with crisp roasted potatoes, which also tasted awesome dredged through the creamy apple sauce (not pictured). Note: the potatoes only took about 45 minutes to cook, not 60. I think I'll make them again, without the rosemary. Better all on their own.